History of the Designed Landscape
This class is intended to convey to students of Landscape Architecture the evolution of the designed and human-built landscape throughout time. Students will learn how designed exterior spaces are informed by cultural ideas, landform, structures, infrastructure and the existing natural environment.
The course covers the consequences of eminent domain, colonialism, and the destruction of cultures in the name of design. The final project is a study of a site of a student’s choosing, using existing graphics, or ones they make themselves. An essay analyzing the significance of the site, its landscape precedents and other notable features ties together the selected drawings.
INSTRUCTOR: Nicole Volpe
JUDGES:
Alison Terry
Shasha Yu
SCRIBES:
Star Taylor
Allison Lyman
Living Lightly on the Land
Dave Elder
SCASLA - Excellence Award
Judges praised the well researched project with historical point of view and examination of the impacts of coastal developments.
"Living Lightly on the Land" combines archival research on The Sea Ranch with my firsthand experience living at Fernhill on Point Dume in 1994. It examines how The Sea Ranch challenged prevailing attitudes toward private development, public coastal access, and land-use regulation, and how those efforts helped influence the preservation of places such as Point Dume. More broadly, it considers how landmark projects can extend beyond their physical boundaries to reshape public expectations, policy, and the trajectory of landscape architecture.
The Verdugo Wash
Ricardo E. Gálvez
I live very close to the Verdugo Wash and cross one of its bridges on a daily basis. I am developing a keen interest in human–watershed relations, especially around perennial and human-made control structures (ditches, arroyos, acequias, canals, aqueducts, etc.). Humans have carved channels into the landscape to harness, control, or contain naturally flowing water for as long as we have recorded history—for better and for worse. Understanding the relationship humans have had with the watershed over the past millennia is vital if we are to endure, let alone thrive during the next.
SCASLA Excellence Award
Judges praised the excellent diagrams paired with good analysis, research and interpretation.
Shaping the Shoreline
Tom Galassi
SCASLA Achievement Award
Judges commended the sheer quantity of information applied to one page and historical examination of the project.
After selecting an outdoor space that resonated with us, we were tasked with identifying a comparable case study. From there, we analyzed the relationship between the two spaces, drawing comparisons in their design, function, and character while conducting a detailed study of the selected precedent. Presentation options were varied, however I opted for the challenge to assemble it all on one sheet.
Dunrobin Castle Gardens
Rachel Noll
SCASLA Achievement Award
Judges appreciated how the student organized and tied their project together with thorough, well researched history of the site.
This project is special because it focuses on sites in the Scottish Highlands where I last traveled with my mom before her death just two months later. Cairngorms National Park and Dunrobin Castle Estate were both impacted by the Highland Clearances and the British romanticization of landscapes.
Japanese Garden
Sara Ochoa
Created for History of the Designed Landscape at UCLA Extension, this project analyzes a personal "landscape of significance," the Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio, alongside a historical precedent, the Japanese Garden at The Huntington in Los Angeles. The written analysis traces both gardens' design lineage and their shared history during the anti-Japanese sentiment of World War II. The site plan and enlargement were hand-illustrated in Procreate from my own site photographs and a published garden map.
SCASLA Achievement Award
Judges liked the overall content of the project displayed in the students work.
Bogor Botanical Gardens
Javier Flores
Versions of Zen
Kate Morton
The Baldwin Estate
Mariia Pugacheva
This project is a historical landscape study of the Baldwin Estate, also known as the Queen Anne Cottage, located within the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Completed for History of the Designed Landscape, the assignment focused on understanding the site through historical research, field observation, mapping, and graphic documentation.
The project examines the estate’s cultural and architectural history, its relationship to the surrounding arboretum landscape, and the influence of Victorian and picturesque design traditions. Particular attention was given to the spatial organization around the Queen Anne Cottage, circulation, ornamental gardens, water features, framed views, and architectural details.
The final presentation combines a large-scale site study with an enlarged hand-rendered plan and detailed photographic documentation, highlighting how landscape, architecture, and historical character work together to create the identity of the site.
Prospect Park
Elisa Reclusado
This term project is about an historic landscape design precedent for a site of my choosing. At the beginning of the quarter, we wrote about our favorite landscape/place. The instructions for this project was to find a landscape with a historic precedent for our favorite place and give examples of the historic design concepts and elements of that this particular site exhibits. A site plan, enlargement, site detail, and written description were required.
Ladew Topiary Gardens
Ashley Van Pelt
The objective of this project was to select a local garden that embodies a historic precedent in landscape architecture analyze the garden and defend the position that is represents a particular historical style. As a Maryland resident, I selected the local garden on a former country estate. This garden is located next to a historic fox-hunting club in the heart of steeplechase country. The garden was designed and constructed by the owner, a well-educated but amateur gardener. The cover art was painted by a local artist and friend.